This is the amount of energy generated by wind turbines

At full power, wind turbines can produce anywhere from a few hundred kilowatts to 20 megawatts of energy. It is therefore not really easy to determine exactly how much electricity a wind turbine generates. Another reason for this is that peak power doesn’t really tell you how much electricity a wind turbine will actually produce, because it ultimately depends on where it’s built and how much wind it receives during the year.

The latest wind energy technology update from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that new onshore wind turbines installed in the United States in 2025 had an average capacity of 3.8 megawatts. The laboratory’s data for 2025 is not yet complete, so this average could still change. That’s an increase from 3.4 MW in 2023, and the Energy Ministry says the average for 2023 was already 375% higher than wind turbines installed in 1998 and 1999. Some offshore wind turbines are also much larger, with one of China’s new offshore wind farms already operating a 16 MW floating turbine.

However, this 3.8 MW number only represents the rated capacity of the turbine, meaning this is the amount of power it can produce under ideal conditions. It’s not about how much electricity the wind turbine sends to the grid at any given time. Wind speeds change a lot and wind turbines sometimes have to be shut down for maintenance, when winds become too strong or when the grid can no longer absorb electricity.

To measure how much electricity a turbine actually produces versus what it would produce when operating at full power 24 hours a day, you need to look at something called the capacity factor. This is the ratio between the energy produced and the hypothetical maximum that a turbine could produce during a given time. And, based on preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average capacity factor for large-scale wind power in 2025 was 34.2%. This is, however, an average for all large-scale wind turbines in the country, and newer turbines might do a little better.

For example, Berkeley Lab found that wind projects built in 2024 had an average capacity factor of 37.1% in 2025. The US Geological Survey also analyzed these numbers. Using a 2.75 MW turbine with a 42% capacity factor, the agency calculated it could produce more than 843,000 kWh of electricity each month. That’s enough to power more than 940 average American homes. The USGS used for the estimate turbines placed into service in 2020, and 42% was the average capacity factor for new turbines at the time. This is much higher than the 34.2% EIA reported for all large-scale wind turbines in 2025, which includes many older wind turbines in its range.

Berkeley Lab also tracks a turbine’s specific power, which is its rated capacity divided by the area swept by its rotor. Based on lab results, turbines with lower specific power (larger rotors for the power they are designed for) generally have higher capacity factors. This is partly why companies continue to invest in larger wind turbines, even though a single commercial wind turbine can take up to a decade to pay for itself.

Comparing old wind turbines to new ones is a good way to see how far technology has come. For example, the older Vestas V27, rated at just 225 kW, uses a 27-meter rotor and needs winds of around 3.5 meters per second before it starts generating electricity. In 2004, the Isle of Gigha in Scotland purchased three second-hand V27 turbines from a wind farm in Cumbria and installed them as Scotland’s first community and grid-connected wind farm.

On the other end of the spectrum you have the Goldwind GWH 300/20000. It is rated at 20 MW and uses a 300 meter rotor with 147 meter blades. China Three Gorges Corporation and Goldwind installed the world’s first 20 MW turbine off the coast of Fujian, China, in January 2026. The turbine is expected to produce more than 80 GWh of electricity per year, which it says is enough to cover the annual electricity needs of around 44,000 homes.

In rated capacity alone, this single turbine can produce approximately 89 times more power than the V27. And if the Fujian turbine reached the 80 GWh per year expected by the China Three Gorges Corporation, then it would operate at a capacity factor of around 46%. Airloom, a Wyoming startup, is also working on a different approach, trying to create a unique wind turbine system that moves vertical wings around an oval track instead of using massive spinning blades on a tower.